Cable vise and cutter for removing armor from cable



CABLE VISE AND CUTTER FOR REMOVING ARMOR FROM CABLE Filed March '7, 1952 99 /9 35 /9 JNVENTOR.

Patented July 20, 1954 CABLE VISE AND CUTTER FOR REMOVING ARMOR FROM CABLE Nial F. Walters, New Carlisle, Ohio, assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force Application March 7, 1952, Serial No. 275,449

2 Claims. (CI. 30-91) (Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952),

see. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the government for governmental purposes without payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a cable vise combined with a cutter for removing armor from cable. The action which is intended is a severing action, not a slitting action. The tool is especially adapted for use on the end of a bench and may be held down with one hand while being operated with the other.

Briefly stated, the device consists of two portions, a Vise portion for holding and positioning the cable and a gauging and cutting portion for setting the depth of the cut and then for undergoing a manual rotation so as to traverse a cutting wheel completely around the cable under sufficient pressure to sever the unwanted portion of the armor from the rest of the stock. The

severed portion of the armor must then be pulled from the strands of the cable by means of pliers or other tools.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a device which will sever steel armor from cable without damaging the cable, notwithstanding the fact that the armor has been swaged into ridged contact with the cable. The kind of cable that is spoken of is used for parachute cables and the like as actuating wire and is not intended for electrical use. It lies within the purview of the invention however, to use the tool to remove insulation or lead jacket from electrical cable.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device in which the cutter can be accurately set to depth in a minimum of time and will preserve the depth setting for the entry of the cutter wheel into the armor through numerous operations of the cutting wheel.

Another object is to provide a device which will track the cutter wheel accurately so that the armor is severed cleanly and without a burr.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective oblique view from above, the vise portion being at the left and the cutter portion being at the right.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the device from the cutter end, the internal operating parts being shown in dashed lines.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a cross-section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a partial vertical section taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 3.

Referring again to Fig. 1, ll] indicates the vise portion and H the cutter portion of the device.

The vise portion I5 is intended to be held manufit) ally, or otherwise mounted upon a work bench, the crosswise edge of which coincides with the line I2 which indicates the boundary between the cutter portion ll and the vise portion It. The cutter portion 1 I is rotatable about the cable is which is shown in Fig. 1 both as projecting forward from the cutter portion I i and rearward from the vise portion I is. The vise portion l0 comprises a longitudinally grooved lower block Hi and an upper block I 5 through which a holding screw it, having a larg knurled head ll, projects. The two blocks are held together by screws as clearly indicated in Figure 1 of the drawings.

The cutter portion I I has more height and less length than the vise portion and is provided with four mutually attached side plates l3, 19, 18a and it'd, an axle 28 mounted in the plates I 9 and Ida which serves the purpose of retaining the cable longitudinally in an opening therethrough. The axle 20 is keyed to the plate I9 by means of a pair of keying screws 2|. The cutter portion is characterized by the presence of a locking screw 22 which also has a knurled head 23 and which is set into a boss 24 on a top closure and guide 25.

Referring now to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the cable I3 is retained in the vise portion I0 by a semi-cylindrical shoe 26 which is vertically adjustable in a recess 2? by virtue of the fact that it is loosely retained upon the inner end holding screw It so that the recess 2! will hold it parallel with the cable 13 notwithstanding the rotation of the screw It. The shoe 2? is adapted to cover about half of the cable circumference while acting as a vise jaw.

As will be seen from Fig. 2, the axle 20 extends from the front face of the cutting portion II well into the vise portion It and is there retained between blocks I 4 and I5 by a flange 28. The axle 20, which is of round cross-section in that portion of its length which is retained between the blocks I4 and I5 is provided near its forward end With flats 29, 3D and 3!. The flats 30 and 3| enable the axle 20 to fit respectively the front plate I9 of the cutter portion II and a rear plate I9a thereof. The flat 29, somewhat lower than flats 30 and 3|, is dimensioned by means of a pair of shoulders 32 to receive a vertically slidable block 33 into the top of which the upper set screw 22 is rotatably retained with a round key 34 which is shown in Fig. 3 behind plate I9. The slidable block 33 at its lower end is bored transversely for the accommodation of an arbor 35 upon which is mounted a cutting wheel 36 which may rotate on the arbor or be tightly pressed thereon so that the arbor rotates. A lower recess 37 in the axle 29 enables the cuttin wheel 36 to reach the cable I3 which lies in a cylindrical cavity 38 which can be seen in full line in Fig. 5 and in dashed line in Fig. 3.

At the bottom of the axle 20 as shown in Fig. 2, there is a fiat 39 which has shoulders 40 for the reception of the various plates including a bottom plate 4| which makes up that portion of the body of cutter portion II which is necessary to enclose the axle 20. Pins 42 lock the plate 4| to the plates I9 and I9a. Pins 43 lock the closure 25 to the same plates at the top of the cutter portion I. The efiect of this construction is to make the cutter portion body usable as a wrench to rotate the axle 20, which corresponds to a nut in that it has four flattened surfaces for the reception of a wrench, but differs from a nut in that it has considerable of a rotatable cylindrical bearing portion 20 enclosed within the blocks I4 and I5. The portion II is kept in good horizontal alignment by the cylindrical portion20.

As will be seen in Figs. 4 and 6, a threaded opening 44 for the reception of a set screw 45 is provided in the bottom plate 4| at the side thereof. The set screw 45 makes contact with the lower end of the vertically slidable block 33 to furnish a stop to regulate the depth of out which the cutting wheel 36 can make in the armor of the cable I3.

In operation, the screws I6 and 22 are first manually loosened, then the cable I3 is inserted into the vise portion I0 from the rear and is pushed forward through the cutter portion II until as much of the armor protrudes beyond the plate I9 as is judged suitable to be severed, taking into consideration the distance of the cutting wheel 36 from the front of the plate I9. Both screws I6 and 22 are then tightened, the cutting Wheel 36 just resting on the top of the armor. The screw 22 is then advanced just enough to make the cutting wheel 36 cut through the armor, but not through the strands of the cable. The set screw 45 is then adjusted with a screw driver from below so as to make firm contact with the vertical slide contact 33. The left hand then retains the vise portion against rotation while the right hand rotates the cutter portion II. The armor is now severed and the projecting piece is pulled forward with pliers to separate it from the cable strands. The device is now set for an infinite number of cuts if the dimensions of the cable and its armor remain the same. It makes no difference whether the rotation of the cutter portion is clockwise or counterclockwise, although clockwise rotation is more convenient for right handed persons. The cable is released from the device by loosening the screw I6. The foregoing operation may be accomplished more easily on the end of a bench so that the vise portion rests upon the bench and the cutter portion projects over the end, nevertheless the two can be used merely by holding it in the hands.

I claim as my invention:

1. A device for severing armor and the like circumferentially from cable, said device comprising a vise portion and a rotatable cutter portion, the vise portion comprising a lower grooved block, an upper grooved block and a screw-actuated holding device mounted in a recess above the groove of the lower block so as to be vertically adjustable therein, a flanged axle rotatably retained between said blocks, said axle forming a connection between the vise portion and the cutter portion, the latter comprising a vertically screw-adjustable block recessed at its lower end, an arbor mounted across the recess and a cutting wheel rotatable on said arbor, said cutting wheel projectin below the block into a recess in said axle so that said cutting wheel is able to contact cable laid longitudinally through said axle at the center of rotation thereof, a plurality of plates forming a case in which the block may be actuated, and through two of which said axle extends, a plurality of flats upon the axle in the cutter portion to give the axle a substantially quadrilateral cross section, top and bottom closures on said plates, an adjusting screw extending through the top closure into the vertically slidable block, said block and case constituting a wrench whereby the cutter portion may be rotated about the cable to enable the cutter portion to sever the armor.

2. A device according to claim 1 and in addition a vertically adjustable set screw in the lower closure of the case, said screw being adapted to be set to limit the downward travel of said vertically adjustable block and its associated cutter whereby to limit the depth of penetration to which the cutter can enter the cable when the block is forced downward under the urging of the adjusting screw.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 967,635 Hewitt Aug. 16, 1910 980,600 Church Jan. 3, 1911 1,306,588 France June 10, 1919 1,477,678 Wetmore Dec. 18, 1923 2,293,754 Ludke et al Aug. 25, 1942 2,317,944 Schaefer Apr. 27, 1943 2,446,558 Schwarz et al Aug. 10, 1948 

